Bag sealing machine



July 8, 1941. N. H. NYE ETAL 2,248,248

BAG SEALING MACHINE Filed Aug. 24, 1938 INVENTORF Noe/wan f1. fins- BY 694/ 4. Paa /v lelw u Iv. Pen xv ZTTORNEY Patented July 8, 1941 BAG SEALING MACHINE Norman H. Nye and Ralph L. Penn, Cuyahoga Falls, and Ralph W. Penn, Akron, Ohio, assignors of one-fourth to Edwin J. Mcllvrled, Stow,

Ohio

Application August 24, 1938, Serial No. 226,564

Claims.

This invention relates to machines for the production of manufactured articles and, more particularly, to an improved construction for bag sealing machines and for machines to be used in various different manufacturing operations.

An object of our invention is to provide an improved construction for bag sealing machines and other devices, in which the work support also serves as an actuating member or control and is adapted to be moved by the operator's hand while holding the bag or other article to be operated upon.

Another object of our invention is to provide an improved construction for bag sealing machines and other apparatus, in which a pair of members arranged for relative movement and having an operating connection therebetween serve, respectively, as a tool carrying member and a combined work support and actuating member.

A furtherobject of our invention is to provide an improved machine, of the type referred to, having a hollow frame and a pair of operably connected lever members pivoted therein with one lever member forming a combined work support and actuating member and the other lever member serving as a tool carrying member, and in which the pivots and the operating connection are arranged to cause the tool carrying member to be moved at a relatively faster rate whereby the tool is brought into cooperation with the work support.

A further object of our invention is to provide an improved construction for bag sealing machines and the like, in which the tool carrying member has a pair of spaced arms with an electrically heated wire tensioned therebetween and adapted to be brought into cooperation with a work support.

Our invention may be further briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and particularly set out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine con structed according to our invention, the particular machine illustrated in this instance being intended for bag sealing purposes; 1

- Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine showing the same with portions of the frame thereof broken away; and

Fig. 3 is a wiring diagram. For the purpose of describing our invention more in detail, further reference will now be made to the accompanying drawing. Before proceeding with the detailed description, however, it should be understood that although we have shown but one embodiment of our invention, the improved construction can be readily applied or adaptedto various other manufacturing machines and devices.

The embodiment of our invention shown in the drawing is a bag sealing machine in which the advantages of our improved construction are very desirable, particularly in the case of the sealing of filled bags because the operator can hold the bag in position on the work support and at the same time conveniently and safely use his hands to actuate or control the machine for the performance of the bag sealing operation. The bag sealing machine shown in this instance is one designed to operate 'on bags formed of thin thermoplastic sheet material, such as the material known as pliofllm which becomes softened and tacky upon the application of heat thereto. In our improved machine, as will be presently explained in detail, an electrically heated member engages a bag formed of thermoplastic sheet material of this character and softens the sheet material adjacent the point to be sealed. Pressure is applied to the heat-softened material and causes the sides of the bag to be united.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 our bag sealing machine may be provided with a frame it formed of metal or other suitable material and having hollow base and head portions II and [2. The base portion H is adapted to be mounted upon a table or other supporting surface upon which the machine is to stand and also provides a housing or inclosure for a transformer I3. The hollow head portion l2 forms a housing or inclosure for other members and portions of the machine to which reference will presently be made and may have openings l5 and It at the front thereof for accommodating certain of such members. The

' head portion may also have an opening H in the side thereof which affords access to the interior of the frame and which is adapted to be closed by the cover l8.

For carrying out the operations for which the machine is intended, we provide a pair of mem-' hers I! and 20 which are mounted in the hollow head portion l 2 of the frame and project through the openings l5 and I6 thereof. The member I! is a combined work support and actuating member and may be a lever-likestructure comprising an arm 2| formed of metal or other suitable material and having the inner end thereof fulwork support.

crumed inside the frame on a pivot pin or stud 22. The lever member I! may also have a transverse bar 23 mounted thereon at or adjacent its outer end forming both a handle or thrust memher for actuating or controlling the machine and a work support upon which the bags to be sealed may be placed or held in succession by the hands of the operator. The member 20 may likewise be a lever-like structure comprising a body 24 of electrical insulating material and a pair of spaced resilient arms 25 mounted on such insulating body so as to project through the opening |5. The member 20 is the tool carrying member, that is, carries a tool which cooperates with the work support 23. The present machine being intended for sealing bags formed of thin thermoplastic sheet material, the tool is in the form of a wire or strand 26, preferably flat, extending between the arms 25 and adapted to be electrically heated. The wire 26 may be resistance wire, that is to say, wire adapted to be heated by a flow of electric current therethrough and may be maintained stretched or tensioned between the arms 25 by the resilient or springy character thereof.

The transverse bar 23, which as mentioned above forms both a work support and a thrust member, may have a work rest or anvil 21 thereon in the form of a strip of soft rubber, or other electrical insulating material, and upon which the portion of the bag to be operated upon may be laid or held, It is this work rest or anvil 21 with which the sealing wire 26 cooperates and by making this portion of the work support of resilient insulating material, a safer and more satisfactory sealing operation is obtained when the wire is pressed thereagainst. The bar 23 may also have a section or clip 26 of angular crosssection mounted thereon so that a projecting leg of such clip forms a ledge or flange against which the operator's hands may press while holding the bag in position to be engaged by the wire 26.

We find it desirable to construct the work rest 21 so that the surface with which the sealing wire 26 cooperates will be convexly curved or arched in the direction of its length. For convenience of construction the bar 23 may be similarly curved or arched so that the work rest 21 can be in the form of a strip of insulating material attached thereto. In forming the work support with this convex curvature it will be seen that the bag will be initially engaged by the wire 26 at or near a point midway between its side edges and the engagement between the wire and other portions of the bag will follow progressively as the wire is deflected and conforms to the curvature of the In this way, an initial clamping of the bag against the work support at a substantially central point will be obtained and other portions of the bag will then be acted upon by the wire 26 without any tendency for the bag to be shifted or wrinkled during the sealing operation.

The insulating body 24 of the lever member 20 may be fulcrumed or pivoted on a stud or pin 30 which is located relatively closer to the bar 23 than the pivot 22 of the lever member l9. An operating connection between the lever members I3 and 20 may be formed in various ways, but in the machine here illustrated we provide the lever member I! with a hook-like lug 3| at an intermediate point thereof which engages in a notch or recess 32 of the insulating body 24. The recess 32 is preferably formed in the insulating body 24 so that the engagement of the lug, 3| with this body will occur at a point in front of, and relatively close to, the pivot pin 30. With an operating connection as thus provided between the lever members l9 and 20 it will be seen that when the operator applies downward pressure against the bar 23 or the ledge 28 to thereby swing the lever member IS on its pivot 22, a pull will be exerted on the lever member 26 by the lug 3|. The pull thus exerted on the lever member 20 will swing the same on its pivot 30 in the same direction as that in which the lever member I3 is being swung, but because of the relatively short lever arm distance at which the pull acts on the lever member 20, this member will be swung at a relatively faster rate causing the wire 26 to be brought into cooperation with the work rest 21. While the operator is depressing the lever member l9, he holds the bag on the work rest 21 so that when engaged by the wire 26 it will be subjected to pressure between the work support and wire. The engagement of the bag by the heated wire 26 causes softening of the material of the bag and the pressure simultaneously applied to the bag by the wire and work support causes the softened material of the walls of the bag to be united, thereby sealing the bag.

The head portion |2 of the frame of the machine may be provided with a section or bar 33 extending between the openings I5 and I6 and which serve as a stop for determining the initial position of the lever member l6, Any suitable retracting means may be provided for the lever members such as the tension spring 34 which has one end thereof connected to an extension 35 of the lever member I3 and its other end connected to a pin 36 carried by the insulating body 24. The pull exerted by the spring 34 on the lever members i9 and 2|) returns the lever member I3 to an initial position adjacent the stop 33 and returns the lever member 20 to an initial position with the wire 26 thereof spaced from the work rest 21.

Electric current for heating the wire 26 may be furnished by the transformer |3 which, as mentioned above, may be mounted in the base portion of the frame. The primary winding 31 of this transformer may be connected to an available lighting circuit by the conductor cord 36 and the terminals of the secondary winding 39 of the transformer may be connected with the ends of the wire 26. The connection of the secondary winding with the wire 26 may be conveniently made by forming the arms 25 of the lever member 20 of conducting material and extending conductors 40 from such arms downwardly through the hollow frame to the terminals of the transformer. For controlling the amount of heating current, and therefore the temperature of the wire 26, we may provide a rheostat 4| in the primary circuit of the transformer. This rheostat may be mounted in an opening of the base portion of the frame and may have a control knob 42 conveniently accessible at the front of the machine.

If desired, an ammeter 43 may be mounted on the head portion |2 of the machine, as by means of the bracket 44, and may be connected in the secondary circuit of the transformer.

From the foregoing description and the accompanying drawing, it will now be readily seen that we have provided an improved construction for bag sealing machines and other devices in which the bag or article to be operated upon can be held in the operator's hands and he will still be able to conveniently and safely operate the machine.

It will be seen furthermore that in our improved construction the work supporting member and the tool carrying member are mounted for relative movement and have an operating connection therebetween whereby the work supporting member also serves as an actuating member or control conveniently accessible to the operators hands while holding the bag or other article to be operated upon. With the improved construction which we have provided, the sealing of bags or other operations to be performed can be rapidly and economically carried out in a safe and easy manner by relatively unskilled persons.

While we have illustrated and described our improved construction for bag sealing machines and other devices, it will be understood, of course, that we do not wish to be limited to'the precise construction and arrangement of parts herein disclosed, but regard our invention as including such changes and modifications as do not constitute a departure from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a machine for operating on thin thermoplastic sheet material and the like, a frame, a pair of lever members pivoted on the frame for movement relative to each other and one of which comprises a pair of spaced resilient arms, and a pair of elements adapted to coact during said relative movement for applying pressure against opposite sides of the sheet material, one of said elements being an electrically heated wire carried by and tensioned between the arms of said one lever member and the other element being a work support carried by the other lever member.

2. In a machine for operating on thin thermoplastic sheet material and the like, a frame, a pair of lever members pivoted on the frame for movement relative to each other and one of which comprises a pair of spaced arms, a pair of elements adapted to coact during said relative movement for applying pressure against opposite sides of the sheet material, one of said elements being an electrically heated wire carried by and tensioned between the arms of said one lever member and the other element being a work support carried by the other lever member, a stop on said frame extending transversely between said lever members, and retracting means adapted to cause separation of said elements and engagement of said other lever member with said stop.

3. In a machine for operating on thin thermoplastic sheet material and the like, a pair of cooperating elements arranged for relative movement for applying pressure against opposite sides of the sheet material, one element being an elongated work support having a work engaging surface convexly curved lengthwise of the support and the other element being a resiliently tensioned wire adapted to be electrically heated.

4. In a machine for operating on thin thermoplastic sheet material and the like, a hollow frame, a lever pivoted on the frame and projecting therefrom, a transverse bar on the lever providing both a work support and a thrust member for manual actuation of the machine, an electrical insulating body pivoted in said frame and having a pair of spaced arms of electrically conducting material connected therewith and projecting from the frame, a wire connected with and "tensioned between said arms for pressure-cooperation with the work support, means for electrically heating said wire by supplying current thereto through said arms, and means providing an operating connection between said lever and body whereby actuation of the lever causes movement of the wire toward the work support.

5. In a machine of the character described, a frame having a hollow head with an opening at the front thereof, an actuating lever pivoted in said hollow head and having a work support movable therewith and located thereon at a point spaced from the pivot, a second lever pivoted in said hollow head at a point relatively closer to the work support than the pivot of the first lever, and comprising a pair of laterally spaced arms, an electrically heated wire carried by and tensioned between the arms of the second lever for operating on the work, said levers being of a length to project through said opening and to locate said work support and wire outside said hollow head, motion transmitting means connecting the levers and adapted to cause a relatively faster swinging of the second lever in response to actuation of the first lever to thereby bring the wire into cooperation with the work support, and a stop in said opening adapted to be engaged by one of the levers upon swinging of the levers to their retracted position.

NORMAN H. NYE. RALPH L. PENN.

RALPH W. PENN. 

